Combination casket and burial vault



Feb. 28, 1956 D. A. ROGERS 2,736,083

COMBINATION CASKET AND BURIAL VAULT Filed April 18, 1952 .3. J7. Rogers.

INVENTOR ATTORNEYS United States Patent 2,736,083 COMBINATION CASKET AND BURIAL VAULT Don A. Rogers, Oklahoma City, Okla. Application April 18, 1952, Serial No. 282,931 1 Claim. (Cl. 27-35) This invention relates to a combination casket and burial vault of the type employed for the burial and transportation of a corpse.

The primary object of the invention is to enclose and hermetically seal the casket and to protect the contents of the casket from deterioration during the transportation and after burial.

Another object is to facilitate the transfer of a burial vault while at the same time hermetically sealing the contents and also to assure the proper positioning of the vault cover in place on the base of the casket.

The above and other objects may be attained by employing this invention which embodies among its features a casket having at its base an outstanding flange, extending around its perimeter adjacent the bottom thereof, said flange having a groove therein extending around its perimeter adjacent the junction of the casket bottom with the flange, a sealing gasket of yielding material seated on the flange adjacent the bottom, a hollow cover seated on the gasket and wholly enclosing the top of the casket, and clamp means engaging the cover and the bottom of the casket for clamping the cover on the casket and compressing the gasket so that it fills the groove and forms an hermetic seal between the cover and the flange.

Other features include a casket bottom wall having a recess in its under side, the side and end walls of which incline upwardly and inwardly as they recede from the bottom of the bottom wall, and hooks carried by the cover and having upwardly and inwardly inclined extensions which engage the inclined side walls of the recess to properly locate the cover on the casket as it is clamped in position thereon and to prevent shifting of the cover during transportation of the casket.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side view of a combination casket and vault embodying the features of this invention,

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially along the line 22 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view through a portion of the device illustrating in detail the clamp means employed.

Referring to the drawings in detail a casket designated generally has a bottom 11 which is provided at its perimeter and adjacent its bottom side with an outstanding flange 12 and formed in the bottom 11 at its junction with the flange 12 is a groove 14 which extends entirely around the perimeter of the bottom 11 as will be readily understood upon reference to Fig. 3. Formed in the bottom side of the bottom 11 is a recess 16, the side and end walls of which incline upwardly and inwardly from the under side of the bottom as at 19 for a purpose to be more fully hereinafter described.

A hollow cover 20 is adapted to fit over the casket substantially as illustrated in the drawings and is provided with an outstanding flange 22 which extends around the perimeter of the cover adjacent its open side and is provided with spaced openings 24 through which extend the fastening means to be more fully hereinafter described. In its preferred form the cover 20 is formed of sheet metal and the flange 22 is outturned as illustrated and then provided on its upper side with an inwardly extending portion 26 which cooperates with the flange in assuring its rigidity. The junction of the flange with the side wall of the cover forms a seat 28, and resting on the flange 12 of the bottom 11 immediately below the seat 28 is a gasket 30 of yielding material which when the cover is clamped in place is compressed so as to fill the groove 14 and form an hermetic seal between the casket and the cover 20.

Extending through the spaced openings 24 in the flange 22 are threaded stems 32 carrying depending hooks 34 which are provided with upwardly and inwardly extending extensions 36 which, when the hooks are turned toward the base 10 and drawn upwardly, engage the inclined wal s 18 of the recess 16 to properly locate the cover relative to the casket. Clamp nuts 38 are threadedly en gaged with the threaded stems 32 so that upon turning the clamp nuts on the threaded stems 32, the stems may be drawn through the openings 24 to move the clamp hooks 34 into or out of engagement with the bottom 11. In the preferred form of the invention, the cover 20 is equipped with conventional handles 40 by means of which the device may be manually lifted and transported.

In use the casket 10 has positioned thereon the cover 20 as illustrated in Fig. 2 and the hooks 34 are engaged with the bottom 11 so that upon turning the nuts 38 the cover may be clamped into place on the flange to compress the casket 30 and form an hermetic seal between the casket and cover to protect the contents of the casket 10 from the effects of the outside atmosphere.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention it is to be understood that minor changes in the details of construction combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed is:

A combination casket and burial Vault comprising a casket having a bottom wall and upwardly and inwardly extending side walls on said bottom wall, an outwardly extending flange on said bottom wall extending around the perimeter thereof, said side walls having an upwardly and inwardly extending groove therein extending around the perimeter of its junction with said flange, a sealing gasket of yielding material seated on said flange and in said groove, a hollow cover seated on the gasket and said flange wholly enclosing the side walls and top of said casket, an outwardly extending flange carried by said cover extending around the periphery thereof adjacent the flange of the bottom and said casket, said bottom wall of said casket having a recess on the lower side thereof, said last mentioned flange having spaced openings therethrough, clamp hooks having a threaded stem extending through said openings and an arm perpendicular to one end of said stem projecting beneath the bottom side of said bottom wall and inclined upwardly and inwardly at one end thereof remote from said stem for engagement within said recess, a fastening means engaging said clamping means upwardly of said openings for clamping said cover on said casket and compressing said gasket so that the gasket fills the groove and the gasket clamped between the cover and casket forms an hermetic seal between said casket and the cover for holding the cover in position on the casket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 706,298 Carlson Aug. 5, 1902 1,506,279 Torrence Aug. 26, 1924 1,620,983 Nichols Mar. 15, 1927 1,934,036 Canedy Nov. 7, 1933 2,111,275 Blower Mar. 15, 1938 2,288,312 Brown June 30, 1942 

